Orange Coconut Creams

I mentioned earlier that I am making homemade candy tins for my family for Christmas this year.  This recipe is one that I tried for those tins, but I swear, they are so good that there might not be any left when it comes time to package them up!  They were also very easy and made a large batch, so do try them if you are in the mood for candy goodness (and who isn't?).  This recipe, once again, comes to us from Taste of Home, the best magazine ever!

For a printer-friendly copy of this recipe, click here:
http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/Orange-Coconut-Creams

Ingredients:
1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk (NOT evaporated milk)
1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick), cubed
1 package (2 pounds) confectioners' sugar
1 cup flaked coconut (from the baking aisle)
1 1/2 tsp orange extract (from the spice aisle)
2 cups (12 oz.) semisweet chocolate chips
8 oz. German sweet chocolate, chopped
2 tbsp shortening

Start out by putting the confectioners' sugar in a big bowl.

Put the sweetened condensed milk and the butter into a small saucepan and heat it up on low (stir, stir, stir) until the butter is melted.

Pour it into the confectioners' sugar and beat it with your electric mixer.

It will be stiff when you are done, so be careful not to kill the motor.  Add the coconut and the orange extract and mix well again.  Now it will be REALLY stiff.

Roll it into 1" balls.  I used my cookie scoop, so these were bigger than 1", but it still worked.  Put the balls onto waxed paper-lined sheets and stick them in the fridge for about an hour (or two hours if you are trying to wrestle a 2-year-old into pajamas when the timer goes off).  This will firm them up and make them easier to dip.

Once the centers are ready, put the semisweet chips, the German chocolate, and the shortening into a small saucepan (think narrow and deep, not wide and shallow) and heat it on medium-low, stirring constantly, until the chocolates are both melted.  Don't worry about it seizing up, which chocolate tends to do on the stove -- the little bit of shortening prevents that nicely.  Once the chocolates are melted, turn the burner down as low as it will go and leave it there.  This will keep the chocolate nice and runny while you are dipping the candies.  You can also melt the chocolate in the microwave, but it will not stay hot and will try to set up before you are through, resulting in a gloopy mess.

To dip the chocolates, you can use a fork, but the wide tines will leaves marks on the bottom.  I bought a set of chocolate tools (see the link below) and they are very helpful.  The tines are small so they leave very little marks.  They are also wider than a fork (at least the 3-prong tool is) so you are less likely to lose your candy in the chocolate bath.



Drop your candies into the chocolate, cover them completely, then fish them out with the tools.  I have learned that the easiest way to do this and end up with the right amount of chocolate coating is to slightly tip the tool holding the candy and bang it gently on the side of the pan until the dripping stops.  This leaves a nice coating that isn't so thick that you break a tooth on it and doesn't waste all of your coating.  Place them back on the waxed paper when they are dipped and let stand until they are set (overnight for me).

Store them in an airtight container in a cool place and they will last a long, long time (well, they have a long shelf-life -- they may not hang around that long once you taste them).

These are super, super yummy!  I can't believe that I never tried making candy before.  Why have I been paying so much in stores when these are so good, so easy, and so fun to make?  They will be a Christmas tradition from here on in our home.

Peanut Brittle

It is December now, which in our home is known as "Baking Season".  I have decided to give gift boxes of homemade candies to our relatives for Christmas, and I wanted to start by trying out a recipe for an old favorite of mine.  I absolutely love peanut brittle, especially the stuff made by See's Candy, who like to add to my waistline by putting naughty kiosks in the malls in December where they sell this stuff like it is crack.  And to me, it might as well be.  Alas, there is no See's kiosk here in Hagerstown, so I am forced to try to make it myself.  It actually turned out very well.

For a printer-friendly copy of this recipe, click here:
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/moms-best-peanut-brittle/detail.aspx

Ingredients:
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup water
1 cup peanuts
2 tbsp butter, softened
1 tsp baking soda

I have to say that this is not my first attempt at peanut brittle.  I tried it last year, with very poor results.  I had used a recipe that said it could be made in the microwave, and it just didn't work for me.  This is a candy, and one that, to be decent, has to be cooked to a pretty precise temperature before pouring, so don't attempt it without a candy thermometer.  However, I was surprised by how easy this really was.  It did take patience, though.

Start by preparing your landing zone for the candy, because you won't have time when you need it.  Just grease a large cookie sheet pan and set it aside.

Put the sugar, corn syrup, salt, and water in a heavy medium saucepan.  Clip your candy thermometer to the side.  You will ideally want the tip of the candy thermometer to be immersed in the liquid but not touching the bottom of the pan.  The pan itself will be a little hotter than the candy, and you want to be sure to get the candy to the right temperature before you take it off.  This is hard to do at first, I'll just be honest and say.  Once you get it stirred up, the candy won't be very high in the pan.  Don't worry.  Turn the heat onto medium and let it go, stirring occasionally.  Try not to bump the candy thermometer too much.  As it begins to boil, the volume will seem to increase and you can easily immerse the candy thermometer.

Once the sugar is dissolved and it has started to boil, add the peanuts.  Stir them in well.

See, the tip of the candy thermometer is now in the boiling candy.  Now comes the part where your patience is required.  You have to sit and watch the candy, stirring every now and then, until it reaches 300 degrees Fahrenheit.  It will go by stages where it seems to just be jumping up, and then it will seem to just sit there at one temperature FOREVER.  Don't be discouraged.  As long as you keep the temperature on medium (DO NOT TRY TO CHEAT AND TURN THIS UP TO HIGH) it will get there eventually.  You are waiting for the consistency to change, the water in the corn syrup to boil off, and for the color to darken.  I was actually surprised at how dark it got those last 10 degrees or so.  This process is known as caramelization.

You can see that the candy is much darker and much thicker now.  You should be stirring constantly at the end due to how thick it gets so that you don't accidentally scorch it.

Once you reach that magic temperature of 300 degrees F, you need to work quickly.  Time is not your friend here.  Remove the candy from the heat and immediately stir in the softened butter and baking soda.  (If you forgot to soften the butter before you started the brittle, 10-15 seconds in the old microwave will work just fine).  When you add the baking soda, it will foam up a bit and turn much lighter in color.  This is due to a chemical reaction between the baking soda and the acids in the sugar that produces carbon dioxide, and will result in a much lighter (less dense) candy.  That's what you want.    This is also why you used a bigger pan than you seemed to need -- I assume that boiling, foaming candy would not feel super-great on your hands.

Almost done!  Just dump it onto your prepared pan, grab 2 forks, and start lifting and pulling until you have it as thin as you can get it.  Bear in mind that it will be rapidly turning very hard as you are doing this, so work quickly.  Woe to those of you who, out of arrogance, will grab a spatula and try to flatten it (that's what I tried).  It just stuck to my silicone spatula, made a mess, and solidified much thicker than I wanted.  Live and learn.

In a very short time, it will be done and cool.  Just break it into pieces (it will break itself as you try to get it off the pan, so no worries) and store it in an airtight container or reward yourself for all of your hard efforts by grazing on it all afternoon.  Just be sure to have that syringe of insulin ready to go ...